Calgary International Airport - New Terminal, Runway, Control Tower

[Bigtime]

Narita is going daily next year with WestJet from April 29th to September 29th.

[BlackArcher101]

I wish they would extend into November, and it's weird they miss peak Sakura blossom season.

[Cappy]

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

I wish they would extend into November, and it's weird they miss peak Sakura blossom season.

I went to Japan in October a few years ago and thought it was the perfect time to go, weather wise. I remember it being at the tail end of typhoon season, but i could be wrong.

A friend just went in august and said it was over 30c each day!

Has anyone been during Sakura season? is it worth it or just way too busy?

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Cappy

I went to Japan in October a few years ago and thought it was the perfect time to go, weather wise. I remember it being at the tail end of typhoon season, but i could be wrong.

A friend just went in august and said it was over 30c each day!

Has anyone been during Sakura season? is it worth it or just way too busy?

We went late April/early May and temperatures were quite nice. Low to mid 20's, did miss the Cherry Blossoms though.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Narita is going daily next year with WestJet from April 29th to September 29th.

Rome is also going daily next summer. Announced shortly after I re-planned my whole trip so I could fly the non-stop on the days previously offered...

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Rome is also going daily next summer. Announced shortly after I re-planned my whole trip so I could fly the non-stop on the days previously offered...

Does that mean something is getting cut? Maybe my math is wrong but IIRC they had just enough airframes to run the schedule they did last summer. Cutting LGW frees up one but making both Narita and Rome daily takes up 1.5.
Or maybe they do have capacity? I think they were also running YYZ 1x daily too.

Edit:
I heard the cargo loads on Narita were pretty good too, maybe that factored into the decision.

[PsYcNeT]

Had the pleasure of using the 5-year old IST airport in Istanbul this last week.

What an absolute dream that place is. Incredibly well laid out, absolutely packed with infrastructure, and everything just...flows.

In comparison, I had to route through Frankfurt both ways and I have absolutely never hated an airport as much as that one. What a garbage fire.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Does that mean something is getting cut? Maybe my math is wrong but IIRC they had just enough airframes to run the schedule they did last summer. Cutting LGW frees up one but making both Narita and Rome daily takes up 1.5.
Or maybe they do have capacity? I think they were also running YYZ 1x daily too.

Edit:
I heard the cargo loads on Narita were pretty good too, maybe that factored into the decision.

Rome was 5x weekly before, what was NRT?

I wouldn't be surprised if they were willing to cut a domestic turn to wedge in more long haul during the summer. Prices are looking pretty strong.

I think they have more trouble filling the 787 in the winter. Eg I came back from PVR on a 787 in late Oct, and it couldn't have been more than half full, with tons of completely empty rows. Probably flying to Toronto would be better than that.

[Bigtime]

I think WS is dropping the 787 on the YYZ route in the summer to make this all work.

Agreed about the 787's being tougher to fill to sun destinations over the winter. Building up overseas flights to yearly should help. I think now we have LHR and CDG year round, and I wonder if NRT could be the third year round by the end of next year?

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

I think WS is dropping the 787 on the YYZ route in the summer to make this all work.

Agreed about the 787's being tougher to fill to sun destinations over the winter. Building up overseas flights to yearly should help. I think now we have LHR and CDG year round, and I wonder if NRT could be the third year round by the end of next year?

I'd love to see NRT year round, even if it was lower frequency in the winter.

I think they might need a better deal with JAL for connections on that though. I used the Westjet app to search a random date (with a NRT flight) next summer and could book a convenient/reasonably priced connection to Bangkok via NRT.

But Hong Kong routed me through Vancouver on JAL's own YVR-NRT flight, and Shanghai/Bali wouldn't come up at all.

Some of those destinations are likely more busy in the Winter than the summer, which would help even out the seasonal imbalance. And on that specific day (Aug 14) if I wanted to go to Bangkok I'd absolutely book the Westjet via NRT. It was the only reasonable one stop option and only slightly more expensive than the 2 stop choices. But I'm quite a bit more likely to go to Thailand in the winter...

[Bill Bumface]

After a few trips recently, I must say the standard of airport bathrooms and general cleanliness of the terminal is high on my list of things that are important to me.

YYC is doing really well there. YYZ surprisingly has turned into a bit of a cesspool.

[Whynotnow]

Originally Posted by Cappy

I went to Japan in October a few years ago and thought it was the perfect time to go, weather wise. I remember it being at the tail end of typhoon season, but i could be wrong.

A friend just went in august and said it was over 30c each day!

Has anyone been during Sakura season? is it worth it or just way too busy?

We went during the Sakura season although we didn’t quite get the peak. It’s important to know when and where you are going as the date ranges are different for different trees in different regions. Then of course you are at the mercy of Mother Nature as it can change. Still you should catch some of it. It was busy, and inexpensive, but don’t regret it at all.

Japan is by far our favourite family trip and it’s not even close.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Agreed about the 787's being tougher to fill to sun destinations over the winter. Building up overseas flights to yearly should help. I think now we have LHR and CDG year round, and I wonder if NRT could be the third year round by the end of next year?

They make good money in the summer, winter is tough. Sun destinations (with relatively short flight times) are not an ideal way to use a long haul aircraft and are inefficient for crew scheduling. Even Maui is a short flight. Year round long haul like Europe and Asia is good (CDG is year round but only 3/4 x weekly in winter) for utilization. One weakness I've found in their Europe operations is the lack of connections on the other side. It's a little better now with the recent Air France codeshare announcement but still tough to get anywhere.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

inefficient for crew scheduling.

I thought it was interesting when I flew PVR-YYC a few weeks ago on a 787 they announced 3 pilots. A captain, first officer, and a relief pilot.

I'd defer to someone with more knowledge, but does that imply they're scheduling it as an out and back where the same crew operates YYC-PVR in the morning and then the return trip in the afternoon? Surely if they were staying over night they wouldn't need a relief pilot?

I'm sort of surprised it works out cheaper to pay for 3 pilots than to pay for some hotel rooms/per diem.

[Whynotnow]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

I thought it was interesting when I flew PVR-YYC a few weeks ago on a 787 they announced 3 pilots. A captain, first officer, and a relief pilot.

I'd defer to someone with more knowledge, but does that imply they're scheduling it as an out and back where the same crew operates YYC-PVR in the morning and then the return trip in the afternoon? Surely if they were staying over night they wouldn't need a relief pilot?

I'm sort of surprised it works out cheaper to pay for 3 pilots than to pay for some hotel rooms/per diem.

Could be a crew availability issue. If they can do it that way they use up 3 pilots. 4 if they only do one leg and then another 2 fly the return,

[Dion]

Calgary airport 1961

[Acey]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

I thought it was interesting when I flew PVR-YYC a few weeks ago on a 787 they announced 3 pilots. A captain, first officer, and a relief pilot.

I'd defer to someone with more knowledge, but does that imply they're scheduling it as an out and back where the same crew operates YYC-PVR in the morning and then the return trip in the afternoon? Surely if they were staying over night they wouldn't need a relief pilot?

I'm sort of surprised it works out cheaper to pay for 3 pilots than to pay for some hotel rooms/per diem.

They're doing 787 flying to Mexico from Vancouver and Toronto as well, and therefore scheduling a lot of triangle routings to rotate the planes back home to Calgary. For example there's one 787 that has been stuck between Vancouver and PVR/CUN for a week now, so tomorrow it's doing YVR-CUN-YYC and another one will do that in reverse. A long one-day trip for the augmented crew.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Acey

They're doing 787 flying to Mexico from Vancouver and Toronto as well, and therefore scheduling a lot of triangle routings to rotate the planes back home to Calgary. For example there's one 787 that has been stuck between Vancouver and PVR/CUN for a week now, so tomorrow it's doing YVR-CUN-YYC and another one will do that in reverse. A long one-day trip for the augmented crew.

Interesting they are doing augmented crews on some Mexico flights and on others it's two crew and they RON each leg.

[Bigtime]

WestJet to start 787 flights YYC-LAX in April, 5x weekly flights:

https://www.threads.net/@ishrion.avi...st/C0K9M-_sT4E

With the flight timing I assume this lets them operate the frame on a transatlantic flight from YYC when it gets back.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

WestJet to start 787 flights YYC-LAX in April, 5x weekly flights:

https://www.threads.net/@ishrion.avi...st/C0K9M-_sT4E

With the flight timing I assume this lets them operate the frame on a transatlantic flight from YYC when it gets back.

Making good use out of them I suppose. Doesn't leave much margin for an on time departure though if the inbound is running late from LAX with a 17:18 arrival time. And they need an airframe available in the morning, the westbound transatlantic inbounds would all be airborne at that time. But obviously they have one available, it's not like they are getting any more. Wonder if this means the YYZ turn is gone?